Always a fan of these types of historical museums, I was disappointed when I tried to visit and found it closed. Under refurbishment for a month during late summer, luckily it reopened before I left the city. The amazing Archaeological Museum of Macedonia is worth a visit for sure.
Getting There
You can’t miss it. A massive Neoclassical structure, right on the Vardar River and a pedestrian bridge that will bring visitors up to the front door. It’s probably the most photographed building in the city, just because it is so confrontingly there.
The Building
Constructed as part of the Skopje 2014 project, it was opened that year, so a relatively new building. The museums existence however goes back to 1924 when it was called the National Museum and is the oldest in the country. Because of WWII, Yugoslavia, the great earthquake of 1963 and the newest project, it has changed locations. Bounced around from army barracks to the fortress, to Old Town and now here.
Walking inside is a grand foyer with the ticket counter at the left. The bottom floor, first and second are absolutely filled with over 7,000 historical objects. All in darkness. Yes, your entire museum experience is in the dark. Its marvellous! Let’s begin.
Ground Floor
This is possibly the most confusing museum I have had to navigate, chronologically speaking, and honestly, I just gave up. Enter both sides of the bottom floor and see mostly ancient Roman statues from the settlement of Scupi. Many of these are labelled as ‘replica’. It makes me curious where the originals are, if not here in the one place they ‘should’ be.
First Floor
We enter the cave like darkness full of glass cases and their treasures. Lots of prehistoric pieces, skulls (not replica’s presumably) with no case. Mixed in is a cabinet of firearms from the last century.
Most of the artifacts have been removed from necropolises discovered around the country. Those old burial sites held a plethora of interesting and priceless items. On this floor we see remodelled graves and photographs to learn what the discoveries looked like when first uncovered.
Second Floor
Gold! Towards the rear wall of one side, find the hoard of gold coins that was discovered recently inside the fortress grounds. Many other stashes can be seen, as well as jewellery. Traditional pieces like earrings and necklaces, but also large breast plate pieces and decorative bits. The sheer amount of gold and the detail on some is a delight to see.
This floor also contains case upon case of pre-roman items such as the red and black pottery from 400 BC and weapons from the 3rd century BC.
A favorite of mine is always the glass. The joy of knowing that this fragile entity has survived thousands of years, and the beauty and skill is always amazing. Have a look at these pieces.
I have tried to label the photos individually, as like I mentioned above, the chronology of this museum is incredibly confusing. I have not heard nor read great things about other museums in Skopje, of which there are many, but I must say, this one is a nice surprise. Cost to enter for tourists is now 400DR each, and it is open from 10-6 everyday but Mondays.
Voted one of Europe’s best museums in 2015, this should be on your list. For history lovers, it’s a pleasant environment to see antiquities, a unique space, walking around in the darkness, and hardly another person in sight.
